For Good
by horsemaniac
Summary: Reunion fic, I've always hated doomsday.  Rose listens to a song and then meets someone special.


Rose sighed and leaned back into her chair. It was just another boring day working at Torchwood, hearing about alien this and that. It was just about the most exciting job she could find, and they needed her alien expertise anyways.

As much as she tried, Rose couldn't be happy. Not completely, anyways. She did smile sometimes, but it was always laced with a bit of sadness. She was happy to have a father and a baby sister now, but there was one huge chunk missing out of her life. She never told anyone about the Doctor, and so they all thought that she had moved from a different part of England.

She was suddenly snapped back to reality when she heard a song start to play on the radio.

_I'm limited:_

_Just look at me –_

She quickly turned up the sound and listened intently, leaning back in her chair again and closing her eyes.

_I'm limited_

_And just look at you -_

_You can do all I couldn't do, Glinda_

Rose's eyes watered slightly. The Doctor could always do so much more than she could, being a 900 year old Time Lord. Though around him she never felt stupid or totally helpless, she could always take care of herself if she needed to.

_So now it's up to you_

_For both of us_

_Now it's up to you:_

That was sort of true. The Doctor was the only one that could get Rose back from Pete's world, and even then it would take a miracle.

_I've heard it said _

_That people come into our lives for a reason_

_Bringing something we must learn_

_And we are led_

_To those who help us most to grow _

_If we let them_

_And we help them in return_

_Well, I don't know if I believe that's true_

_But I know I'm who I am today_

_Because I knew you:_

Yes, Rose thought, the Doctor had definitely come into her life for a reason. To show her the universe, show her that she can be so much more. She had learned so much from him, and not just about aliens and other worlds, but about life. How you can't always just stand back and let things happen around you. She also helped the Doctor in return. She helped him heal the wound caused by the Time War, to the point where he was finally happy again.

_Like a comet pulled from orbit_

_As it passes a sun_

_Like a stream that meets a boulder_

_Halfway through the wood_

_Who can say if I've been changed for the better?_

_But because I knew you_

_I have been changed for good_

Rose had definitely been changed. She had realized her whole potential, what she could do if she put her mind to it. She had definitely been changed for the better, she thought, even though she had to live without the Doctor now. She couldn't imagine still working at the shop, not knowing what was out there, in the universe.

_It well may be_

_That we will never meet again_

_In this lifetime_

_So let me say before we part_

_So much of me_

_Is made of what I learned from you_

_You'll be with me_

_Like a handprint on my heart_

_And now whatever way our stories end_

_I know you have re-written mine_

_By being my friend:_

At these lyrics, the tears that had been pooling up around her eyes came pouring down her cheeks. They were so true! She and the Doctor would probably never meet again, and being reminded of this was hard for Rose. They hadn't had the chance to say all the things that the song was saying when they last met at Bad Wolf Bay, but she knew it was very true and she knew that the Doctor knew it too. She would never ever live a day without thinking about him, about how he changed her. And she hoped that he would think of her too, about how she helped him. Her story had been rewritten alright, being in a parallel universe and all that.

Rose didn't notice that her friend, Janet, had appeared in the doorway during the middle of that verse. Janet was about to speak when she saw that Rose was sobbing, and she stopped to listen to the lyrics of the song that was having such an effect on her friend. She had always known that there was something Rose was not telling everyone, something very important to her. Maybe she could figure out what it was. As she listened, she figured that Rose must have known someone that she couldn't see very often? Or maybe it was sadder than that, maybe Rose had lost someone, a good friend. It was the end of the song now, and the tears were still pouring down Rose's cheeks, and she didn't even bother to wipe them away.

_Who can say if I've been changed for the better?_

_I do believe I have been changed for the better._

_And because I knew you: _

_Because I knew you: _

_Because I knew you: _

_I have been changed for good._

Rose sobbed and put her head in her hands, thinking of all the things she had seen and done with the Doctor, thinking about how much she cared for him, how much she loved him. He had almost told her too, or at least she hoped that's what he was going to say. Suddenly she felt a hand lightly touch her shoulder, and a concerned voice, almost a whisper, said her name. She looked up, a bit embarrassed. At least it was only Janet.

"Rose, what's wrong? ...Does it have something to do with that song?" She nodded and Janet said, tentatively, "Would you like to talk about it?"

Rose gave her a weak smile and took a deep breath, hoping that her voice didn't sound too terrible. "I've never told anyone, well, except my family knows. I- I lost someone… very dear to me. We traveled together for about a year, and… something very bad happened. I'll probably never see him again. The last time I saw him was about a year ago, right before I came to work here." Rose looked sadly off into the distance, and it almost sounded like she was talking to herself. "I loved him… and I think… he almost told me…" tears began streaming down her cheeks again. "Rose Tyler-" She whispered, lost in her own little world. Then she seemed to snap back to reality, and looked sadly at Janet. "I'm sorry, you probably have work to do. Thanks- thanks for listening…"

"No problem," Janet replied, and gave Rose a hug, then started to leave when she remembered what she came to Rose for in the first place. "Oh, I almost forgot. There's a man waiting for you in the lobby. I'll tell him you'll be down in…?"

"Five minutes," Rose said. "Thanks, I'll be down soon."

Janet gave Rose a little smile, and made her way back to the lobby. Poor Rose, she thought, she really must have loved that man. "Rose will be here in about five minutes, sir." She said to the waiting man. "Are you a friend of hers?"

"Yeah," the man said, then he gave a little smile, to himself it seemed.

"Just so you know, she's a bit sad right now, just heard a song that just reminded her of a friend, she said she probably won't see him again. Poor Rose, I always knew she was sad about something. Oh, I'm sorry, Rose might not want me to tell people about this…"

A minute later, Rose walked into the lobby with fresh make-up and a smile, but she still had red eyes from crying. She looked over to the chairs at the left side of the room and gasped, frozen to the spot. The man looked up, he had not noticed that Rose had come in. He then stood up and smiled at her. "Rose," he said.

She stared at him unbelievably, fresh tears forming, as he walked towards her and stopped about an arms length away. "Doctor," she whispered, and brought her hand up to his face, just to make sure he was real. "It's me, Rose," he said, and with that she threw her arms around his neck and sobbed into his shoulder, and he buried his face in her hair. After a minute Rose finally pulled back from their tight hug, and looked deep into the Doctor's eyes. She never thought she would ever see him again, let alone touch him, hug him. The Doctor took a deep breath. "Rose Tyler… I love you." With that, they hugged each other again. He said it, he finally said it, Rose thought. "I love you too," she whispered in his ear.

Janet stared at Rose and the man, unsure of what was going on. She had never seen Rose show this much emotion, in fact the earlier incident was the first time she had ever seen Rose cry. This man seemed equally ecstatic to see her, as they were hugging fiercely and she could see tears falling down his face too. Then the man looked at Rose and said "I love you." That said it all. This was the man Rose was just crying about, the one that she never thought she'd see again. And now he told her what he apparently didn't get the chance to say before. Janet's eyes welled up a bit at the thought, she was so happy for Rose.

They broke apart again, and Rose smiled at the Doctor before turning to Janet, a hand still on each other's waists. "Janet, I'm taking the rest of the day off and I can't be bothered," she said, beaming. She turned back to the Doctor. "Come on, we've got to go see mum!"

A look of fear came into the Doctor's eyes, although Rose could see the humor behind them "Not Jackie! She's gonna slap me!"

"Not if I have any say in it! Wait, the TARDIS! We have to go see her first!" she cried, dragging the Doctor out the door.


End file.
